 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Composed and Co-Produced by:
|
John Debney
Christophe Beck
|
Conducted by:
|
John Debney
Pete Anthony
|
|
|
|
|
Release Date:
|
October 1st, 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
 |
| | Debney |
 |
| | Beck | |
|
The Tuxedo: (John Debney/Christophe Beck) The general success of Jackie
Chan flicks over the past year has been well-documented. Anytime you can conjure
up a scenario in which a Chan character, an innocent man in the wrong place at
the wrong time, has to burst out of a refrigerator and kick someone in the head
(all in one graceful split second move), then you've got yourself a movie that's
ready to make some money. In The Tuxedo, Chan is thrust into the world of
comedy/science fiction, and now with Jennifer Love Hewitt in tow. As a chauffeur
turned secret agent by accident (through the use of a magical black belt James
Bondish tuxedo), he is placed once again into the position of kicking
unsuspecting fools in the head. This time, he does it with the music of two
talented younger composers rooting him on. John Debney and Christophe Beck
collaborated half and half in producing this techno-action score. It's a score
that meets all your expectations of a Jackie Chan action flick, with music that
was produced on a moderate budget and the backbone of several creative
electronic samplings.
Nobody has been able to get the story straight regarding the situation with
these composers, however the fact that there are overlapping cues for the same
scenes on the album suggests that one composer's work replaced the other. In any
case, the funny thing with Beck and Debney is that their music is nearly
indistinguishable. Both of them employed the services of the Hollywood Studio
Symphony for the project, and used nearly identical electronic samplings to
spike the score with techno-spy flavor. The cues are nearly all action-based,
which makes sense given that Chan films often move from scene to scene very
quickly, with the kicking of people's heads occurring at each turn. Debney is
more of a known commodity in the film scoring world, and his electronics here
sound very similar (if not perhaps a bit heightened) to those in his other
action comedy scores of late, beginning with Inspector Gadget and running
through Cats & Dogs. There aren't any spectacular orchestra-only cues,
even when the pace of the film is running so fast, and thematic development is
kept at a minimum. The finale cue by Debney does offer one last, blazing
orchestral build-up, but it unfortunately disintegrates into a mush of
electronics. Beck's music is very similar in that its orchestral moments never
achieve musical cohesiveness, but suffice to add enough stimulation to the
scenes to accommodate what people really went to the film to see: Chan kicking
people in the head.
Regardless of how the duel composer situation for The Tuxedo came to be,
it continues a trend of substandard film projects for John Debney specifically.
Debney's potential as the next major composer in Hollywood has been written
about to no end, but his career continues to be stuck in a rut with projects
such as this one. This score simply offers nothing new, nothing unique, and
certainly nothing to get excited about. Even if you enjoy the haphazard, frantic
and large orchestral and electronic ramblings of similar scores by Debney, there
may not be enough interesting material here to make the album worth purchasing.
The score presentation on the album starts and ends with Debney's music, and
Beck's music begins with his main theme highlight and his other material
occupies the middle half of the album. The only two tracks of distinction
include the first one, in which Debney and a remix artist take his theme for the
film and add some dialogue into a suite of funk. The drum loops on that track
are nearly identical to those used by Eric Serra in The Fifth Element.
Also, Beck does a pseudo imitation of David Arnold's techno-Bond style in the
thirteenth cue, "Superhuman." Finally, the album ends with the James Brown song
"Get Up." Overall, it's a forgettable project featuring at least one composer
who is spinning his wheels. **
 |
|
Viewer Ratings and Comments:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
• 1. Jimmy's Tux (2:49) - John Debney
• 2. Skateboard Chase (1:59) - John Debney
• 3. Mad Bike Messenger (1:03) - John Debney
• 4. Jimmy's Dream (0:48) - John Debney
• 5. The Tuxedo Main Title (3:01) - Christophe Beck
• 6. First Mission (2:53) - Christophe Beck
• 7. Swallow the Queen (2:24) - Christophe Beck
• 8. Demolition (1:19) - Christophe Beck
• 9. Putting on Tux (1:58) - John Debney
• 10. Demolition Program (1:03) - John Debney
| |
• 11. Rope Fight (2:58) - John Debney
• 12. Rope Fight (2:13) - Christophe Beck
• 13. Superhuman (1:38) - Christophe Beck
• 14. Walter Strider (1:22) - Christophe Beck
• 15. High Noon (0:48) - Christophe Beck
• 16. Banning Opens the Pods (2:29) - John Debney
• 17. Banning Swallows the Queen (0:49) - John Debney
• 18. Jimmy Saves Blaine (1:49) - John Debney
• 19. Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine) (3:19) - James Brown
|
Insert includes no extra information about the score or film, except for a list of musicians who performed on the
score.
|
